by Gordon C. Morse

The “Yes” and “No” signs on the April 21 referendum to amend Virginia’s Constitution are getting mixed up with the “Yes” and “No” signs on the data centers. It’s all very confusing.

And not.

The answer on overhauling Virginia’s congressional districts is “No.” Just go in there and vote “No” and stop thinking about it. Doing so doesn’t send a love note to Donald Trump.

Look at all these crazy people announcing campaign bids for districts that yet do not exist.

My argument for the day: Jesus (he’s been in the news lately and you know why) wants you to vote “No.” I tried this argument on my brother, who voted “Yes.”

In historic and mainstream Christian teaching, you do not do evil on the proposition of doing good. A good end cannot morally justify sinful means.

That is essentially the way that Democrats justify this effort to upend Virginia’s congressional districts. It will stop Trump, they say. We must fight fire with fire. We must meet him in the road and whack his wagon, because that’s the Chicago Way.

That’s how their argument goes and my brother says, “Right.”

So I told him, well, you’re going to Hell. I think I may have first told him that when he was eight and I was still taller than him.

Let me try another argument. There are so many mental roads that lead to “No,” despite what my brother thinks.

For starters, the Democrats’ message—that the best path to a better democracy is to make Virginia a whole lot less democratic—seems notably unsatisfying.

And, if getting down into the muck with Donald Trump seems compelling to Democrats, how do you extricate yourself afterwards? How exactly do you reclaim the high ground?

I suspect that will not be easy. When they go low, we go lower. Some philosophy.

The “Yes” proponents keep revealing themselves. A flyer in the mail says the referendum is all about abortion rights. That’s a kitchen sink argument. Just throw it in there.

Will there at least be closure on April 21?

Are you kidding? No. The GOP will immediately find a drum and start beating out a version of “Remember the Maine!” They will tag April 21 as the moment when Democrats (oh no, not again!) stole the elections.

A trickier argument to make is that Virginia’s congressional districts should be tied to any particular region or geographic distinction. Yet, they have been.

True, there is no legal requirement that a congressional district correspond to a traditional geographic region, but traditionally we have favored “communities of interest.” Virginians easily identified the Ninth, Fifth, Third, Second and First congressional districts as Southwest, Southside, Richmond, the Peninsula and South Hampton Roads.

Acceding to the Democrats, by voting “Yes,” means that all goes away and not just temporarily. The damage could be lasting, especially in terms of good will.

We could do as the Brits once did and concoct so-called “rotten boroughs.” These allowed tiny, often tightly controlled electorates to send members to the House of Commons and, in the process, secure disproportionate political influence.

In other words, the occupants of a rotten borough were over‑represented. The population “rotted” away, but the representation—landowning, aristocratic representation—stayed the same. The Reform Act of 1832 got rid of all that.

Much later, historian Lewis Namier came along and said, yeah, but these rotten boroughs created political opportunities for people without family connections or even much property to enter Parliament. That happened because borough voters were able to place able but socially marginal figures into safe seats. The setup, argued Namier, even contributed to political stability. You ended up with a less homogenous House.

“Able.” What a concept. America adheres to “one man, one vote” dictums and, unfortunately, fidelity to that arrangement often gives us a person, but not always an able person.

I only mention that to point out how representative systems can be made to work in many different ways and produce varying, but democratically satisfying results.

Virginia faces this big choice on Tuesday and Democrats have rationalized a “Yes” vote in contravention of earlier pronouncements. Has sufficient contemplation gone into the consequences? Not really. Is this more a primal scream directed at President Trump than anything else? It sure seems so.

I understand the motive, but a more reasoned approach to reform (if that’s what this is) would be preferable.

At least my brother and I agree on the greatness of our great, great, great grandfather, David Shepherd Garland. He was elected to the 11^th Congress from Virginia’s 21^st District, which was located in that portion of the Piedmont south of Charlottesville.

There were 22 Virginia congressional districts in all at that time, and you can only imagine what present-day Democrats would do with so many seats. It would be fun for them.

The thing we like best about Garland is that he defeated Thomas Mann Randolph Jr., a nephew of Thomas Jefferson and you can still find Garland’s house standing in Amherst County. Hurrah for our side.

But he only served one term and got out. He spent 30 some odd years in the General Assembly, which obviously appealed to him more. He gets points for that, too.

Just as a final word: I was told early on that God makes little or no room for escape clauses. You can’t plunder, maim or covet your way to happiness. Vote “No.”

Gordon C. Morse has been writing commentary and speeches in Virginia since 1983. This column his republished with permission from his Substack account Heart’s Desire.